Mark Sargent was supposed to return a silver Subaru Outback to Eric Schneider on Thursday but he didn’t show.

Schneider said he was shocked when he found out the reason that he couldn’t get in touch with Sargent or the car: Sargent was arrested Wednesday night after allegedly setting a West Bridgewater building on fire with his stepson, and the car was in police custody.

“I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’” said Schneider, who has done business with Sargent in the past, buying and selling cars. “It’s like a dream. I still can’t believe it.”

Schneider’s father owns the home where Sargent and his family live at 352 Wareham St., Middleboro, according to court documents.

Schneider said Sargent was an independent auto dealer who would buy and sell cars from The Garage, the business Schneider and his father own on Main Street in Brockton.

Neighbors said the family was quiet and mostly kept to themselves.

“He seems like a nice guy, a hard worker,” said neighbor Randy Gould, 48. “I would never think they would do something like that.”

Sargent, 45, and his stepson, Jeanmarie D. Louis, 23, of Middleboro, were arraigned at Brockton District Court on Thursday on charges of burning a building, attempting to burn a building and malicious destruction of property over $250 in the West Bridgewater blaze. No one was injured in that fire.

Judge Ronald Moynahan ordered the men held as a danger to the community after a Plymouth County prosecutor said they are believed to be linked to 24 fires in southeastern Massachusetts since September.

Louis is the son of Sargent’s wife. Sargent and his wife also have two other children who live with them in a modest home not far from Middleboro High School, said neighbors.

Three of the fires they are alleged to have started were on Wareham Street, a few miles from the family’s home.

While en route to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital in July 2010, Sargent’s wife went into labor so they pulled into the Bridgewater fire station. Nine minutes later, the baby was born with the help of the firefighter-paramedics, the family told The Enterprise in 2010.

Louis was described by neighbors as a quiet man but seemed different of late.

“He used to come over all the time but lately he has been weird,” said Kristen Woodward, 23, a neighbor.

Woodward said Louis has previously worked as a waiter at the Middleboro restaurant Shooters, not far from the family’s home, and at the Christmas Tree Shop in Middleboro.

Driving records for the two men show that Louis began the process of getting a license but never finished.

Sargent, however, has an extensive driving record listing at least 29 moving violations since 1985.

Page 2 of 2 - Both men are due back in Brockton District Court on Wednesday for a dangerousness hearing. They could be held without bail until trial on the grounds that they are too dangerous to be released into the community.